Aspiring Fires
by LastTimeVanderlyle
Summary: On the night of her twenty-third birthday, the reader loses the most precious thing in her life. She crosses paths with the Winchesters and her life changes overnight.


For a long time it had been you and your sister Grace. At the time you didn't know about the supernatural, the angels and the demons. The name Winchester was still unknown to you. You were living a simple kind of life, studying English literature in New York and living with Grace and your dog, Bigby. Grace was two years older than you were and had always been like a mom to you. She had adopted that role a long time ago, after your mom had passed from breast cancer, when you were only 15 years old. Since your dad had never really been around, both of you ended up living with your aunt until you left to join Grace in the city. She was everything to you; your confidant and your best friend.

On that fatal day, you decided to go straight to the pub after your poetry class. Grace had a surprise planned for your twenty-third birthday and had asked you to join her and some friends for drinks. At first you thought of stopping by the apartment to drop your books and to walk Bigby before meeting up with your friends but, you remembered how much Grace had insisted you be there for 8 o'clock, so you decided to follow her instructions to the letter. She was always so organized and thorough, after all. She had probably already walked the dog, you thought. _Too bad, it's such a beautiful night,_ you told yourself, admiring the full moon, in all its glory.

You had never been a big fan of surprise parties or just parties in general. You always felt awkward and out of place at those types of gathering. It was even worst when you knew you would have to be the center of attention. You would've been happy to simply spend the evening drinking wine and chatting with Grace, but you knew it was important to her. _For Grace_ , you thought to yourself. With a shy smile, you entered the bar expecting to walk in on a not so secret surprise party, but found your friends Jack and Laura alone at a table, instead. No signs of Grace. After they both explained that they had tried to get a hold of your sister all day but in vain, you left worried sick that something bad had happened.

At first you convinced yourself to stay calm and collected, she most likely had an excellent reason for not answering their calls. _It has to be part of her plan_ , you told yourself, not believing any of it. After calling Grace almost twenty times and a long and stressful subway ride, all your worst fears were confirmed when you got to your apartment building.

You could hear Bigby barking from outside, which was very unusual for your well behaved dog. With trembling hands you tried to insert your keys in the lock but your heart stopped when you noticed blood on the door knob. _No, no, no, no, no... This can't be happening._ Your whole body was shaking and the keys were slipping in your sweaty palms. There was nothing you could have told yourself that would have made you feel okay. You grabbed your keys with both hands and opened the front door, tears streaming down your cheeks. Bigby's howls got louder and louder as you followed the blood leading to apartment number six. You couldn't suppress a sob escaping your lips when you caught sight of a usually large bloody handprint on the frame of the door. As if Bigby knew you were getting closer, he started scratching the bottom of the door in a panicked manner. A painful shiver passed through your whole body and you finally put your trembling hands against the door and took a deep breath. Even if you were expecting the door to be locked, you wiggled the doorknob and were surprised when it turned completely and Bigby pushed the door open. In a fraction of a second the large German shepherd's paws were all over you, as your eyes tried to adjust to the darkness.

"Shh, shh, Bigby. Calm down, please" you whispered in a hoarse voice, still crying and shaking. You couldn't see anything except for your dog's muzzle and frightened eyes.

" Grace? " You patted the wall behind you and turned the lights on.

The first thing you noticed was blood. There was so much of it. You brought a hand to your mouth as you studied the disastrous state of your home. Your living room was absolutely destroyed; the television and the numerous picture frames were shattered on the floor, the bookshelves and all its content had collapsed and the couches were ripped, stained in blood. _So much blood. Oh god..._ That was the only articulated thing going through your mind. Suddenly you noticed it. A hand. A small hand sticking out from the sofa facing away from you, the thick red liquid dripping from the fingers. You fell on your knees in a quick motion, screaming in agony.

"Nooooooo!"

Your eyes were fixed on the hand but you couldn't bring yourself to move. Fully paralyzed with fear, you wailed in pain for what seemed like an eternity. You looked away when you realized Bigby was now walking towards the body and without thinking you got up and followed him. _It's not her. It can't be her. This is just a bad dream,_ you kept repeating in your head. But it was pointless, you knew it was her. You knew you had just lost your sister... your everything.

You couldn't control your body, it felt like you were hypnotized. You held your breath and took one last step to face the truth. You'll always remember the shattering sight. She was covered in blood, mutilated and her face was disfigured and contorted. Her chest had been ripped apart. _Grace... my sweet Grace..._ In one last desperate attempt, you extended your arm only to slip in the puddle next to your sister's corpse. You felt a sharp pain as you banged your head on the coffee table. All of a sudden, everything started to slowly fade away.

You remember hearing Bigby barking and growling aggressively at two large figures at the entrance of your apartment. You remember their voices, deep and worried.

" I lost her... " is the last thing you were able to say before two strong hands grabbed your arm and lifted you up. You were able to open your eyes for a moment and caught a glimpse of piercing green eyes, before the darkness swallowed you whole.

 _" Sometimes I wonder what I am doing with my life... I feel like I don't have a purpose."_

 _You were sitting in a booth at Dundy's pub, with your sister and her boyfriend Kyle, playing with the straw from your empty glass._

 _" Woah! What's up with you tonight, Y/N? Depressed much?"_

 _You looked up at Kyle and rolled your eyes. You very much disliked him. It was still inconceivable to you that your sister was still wasting her time with an idiot like him._

 _" Y/N, stop that right now. You do have a purpose." Grace looked at you with a worried look._

 _" No, I just... I don't know, lately I've been having doubts. I am almost finished school and I don't know what I am going to do after graduation."_

 _Kyle interrupted you abruptly. "If you ask me, Y/N, you should've thought about it before. I've always wondered what you were planning to do with that useless degree of yours."_

 _" Kyle!" your sister glared at him with a disapproving look._

 _" Well, I didn't ask you Kyle, so you can shut up and let me be, you asshole!" You didn't have time to stop yourself as the words blurted out of your mouth. Maybe you should not have drank that fourth drink after all._

 _From the frown on your sister's face you could tell that she was upset, but Kyle was clearly amused._

 _" I like drunk Y/N! Ha!" He lifted his left arm, trying to get the waiter's attention. "Let me get you another drink, Y/N."_

 _" No Kyle, please." Grace grabbed the sleeve of his sweater and yanked on it to bring it down._

 _The quick motion made him wince and retrieve his arm, a painful grimace on his face. What a delicate flower, you remember thinking, while trying to hide a smirk._

 _" What is it, honey? Are you okay?" Your sister reached for his arm and pulled up the sleeve to discover an odd shaped wound. She gasped as she examined it closer._

 _" Oh, it's no big deal, Grace. I got attacked last night, on my way back home. It was a dog, I think. I am not sure, it was kind of dark." he almost shouted in a gruff voice._

 _" That's some dog!" you exclaimed. "You should get it checked out. Seriously!"_

 _He wasn't laughing anymore. " Whatever, I am getting out of here." He shook Grace's hand off of his arm and left without saying another word._

You woke up to the sound of two men arguing in the distance. At first you couldn't make out the words, their voices were masked by the screeching sound echoing in your ears. There was a razor-sharp pain throbbing in the back of your head and everything around you was blurry.

Despite the fact that your whole body was burning hot, the surface that you were lying on was cold on your cheeks. It felt like leather, you thought. As you tried to lift your head, you heard a familiar whimpering sound next to you. _Bigby... Bigby is here, with me,_ you realized. The dog's paws were resting on the side of your thigh and in a quick motion he turned his head to look at you.

You tried to make sense of your surroundings as your vision started getting clearer. The humming sound of an engine made you realized that you were in a moving car. Confused and disoriented you tried to concentrate on your thoughts. _Where am I,_ you asked yourself. In a painful movement you brought your hand to your head and patted the bloody wound. _I am hurt? How did that happen? God where am I?_

Your thoughts were interrupted by a deep and husky voice.

"I still can't believe I let you convince me to bring the stupid dog with us! I swear to god, if he even just scratches my baby, you'll be the one to blame! "

" You know we had no choice, Dean. Like I said twenty minutes ago, he almost attacked me when you took her to the car. And there's no way I was gonna leave him alone with the body, the cops would have thought he did it. He could have ended up shot or something."

" And that would have been a bad thing, why?"the other man mumbled.

They were talking about you, you realized. _And Bigby. And a body… Grace!_ Suddenly, it all came back to you. You began to panic when your mind went back to the horrible events that had just occurred. Images of your sister's broken body rushed to your head. Water started filling your eyes again. Still too weak to fully lift your head you focused on the two voices.

" ... you thinking what I'm thinking?"

" The heart was missing."

" Yeah, that's what I was about to say. It's not a coincidence that's for sure. It has to be the same werewolf."

 _What? Who are these people? What are they talking about?_ You were trying to make sense of what you were hearing. It felt like you were in a bad dream but it seemed much too real and vivid. _A werewolf?_

There was a short pause and the driver slammed one of his hands on the steering wheel.

"God damn it! We could've stopped it... we could've saved her..."

" There's nothing more we could've done, and you know that, Dean."

"We've been in town for a whole day, Sammy and we still missed it. How is that not our fault?"

" Ok... Let's just concentrate on getting her to the closest hospital, for now."

Dean took a quick look in the rearview mirror and caught a glimpse of Bigby's head, but didn't notice you were awake.

" Stupid dog…" he muttered under his breath, his eyebrows furrowed in a frown.

Sam rolled his eyes, and turned around as you tried to lift your head a second time. Your heart stopped when you met his eyes. You did not know what to expect. From what you had heard of their conversation, you had determined that you were in the presence of crazy people who talked about werewolves as if they were real. You thought you might have been kidnapped by Grace's murderers. There's was no other logical explanation. However, there was something in his eyes that made you feel safe. Even in spite of the situation, you could not stop yourself from thinking about how handsome he was. Tanned and muscular, he had shoulder length brown wavy hair and kind hazel eyes. He quickly smiled at you, bumped the driver's arm to signal him that you were conscious and started talking softly.

" Hi there. I'm Sam. And this is my brother Dean."

You were paralyzed. You didn't know what to say.

He kept talking. "I know you must be scared and disoriented right now but I promise you that we're not going to hurt you. You can trust us. What's your name?"

Without thinking the words slid off your lips. "Y/N."

At the sound of your voice Bigby let out a bark and sat up next to you. Sam chuckled at the dog and extended his arm to pet his head. You were surprised to see that Bigby was calm and docile with the stranger. With all the strength you had in you, still a little dizzy, you lifted your head and sat up in your seat. You turned back your gaze to Sam and saw his smile slowly fade away.

" Listen Y/N… I don't how much you remember but…"

" My sister…" you cut him off.

"Yes… We are terribly sorry for your loss, Y/N. I wish we could have made it in time to stop it." He spoke really low and lowered his head with compassion.

You didn't even realize that you were crying when a sob escaped your mouth.

You heard Dean clear his throat, he turned his head and in a hoarse voice he said, "As soon as we drop you off to the hospital, we'll go back and find the son of a bitch who killed your sister."

" Wait! You know what happened to her?" you were able to articulate in between whimpers.

Sam gave Dean a disapproving look.

Their conversation from earlier came back to you. They had said something about a heart missing and a werewolf… You started shaking in your seat, you felt uneasy. Fear came rushing back to you and Sam noticed right away.

" We don't know for sure, but we do have strong suspicions of what could've attacked your sister."

" What do you mean "what"? You… you think she was killed by…" You had to take a deep breath, before getting the rest of your sentence out. "A werewolf?"

The brothers both looked at each other in surprise.

" Um, yes but -"

You cut him off, "You're not making any sense. Who are you people? And what were you doing at my apartment? How do I know you're not the ones who killed Grace, and that you're not kidnapping me right now? "

You were nervous and agitated. The other man had said that he was taking you to the hospital but there was no way for you to know if he was lying or not. You looked outside the window and tried to figure out where they were driving you. You cursed yourself for not knowing the route to the hospital. The subway was the only method of transportation that you used in the city and you had a horrible sense of direction, so you were totally lost.

" Let me out of the car! I beg you please! I need to go back to my sister," you screamed.

" Please calm down," said Sam softly, both hands in the air in a pleading motion. " Like I said before we're not going to hurt you. I know how it must look, but trust me when I say that we're here to help you. We don't want you any harm." Sam was weighing his every words, trying to be as delicate as possible. He seemed genuine, you thought, but how could you know for sure. Sam waited, squinting a little as you were still processing everything. He looked at the driver again and turned back to you. "Listen, I know it's gonna sound insane but, my brother and I… We're-"

" We're hunters. We kill monsters and bad things." Yelled Dean impatiently, without moving his eyes from the road.

"Dean! I was trying to find the right way to tell her!" grumbled Sam, annoyed by Dean, once again.

"Well it was taking you too long," Dean rolled his eyes and looked up in the mirror. Your eyes met and you recognized the piercing emerald color from before. He kept staring at you, his eyes hard and severe but not threatening. He was waiting for your response.

" You kill monsters… You mean, actual monsters?" you said in a faint voice, still looking at Dean in the mirror and putting a hand on your dog's back. You still couldn't figure out why the German Shepherd was so relaxed in the presence of these two strange men, it was so unlike him.

After a moment of deliberation, Sam decided to tell you everything. He started by explaining that they had come across a local news article from a month ago, that depicted the gruesome death of two teenagers from your neighbourhood. You quickly remembered the story. They had been discovered in an alley close to the grocery store. Their bodies were mutilated, their chests ripped apart and their hearts were missing. Your mouth fell open and you put your head in your hands as you put two and two together.

The authorities had concluded that the victim had been attacked by a wild animal, but Sam and Dean knew exactly what was responsible for their deaths. A werewolf.

The brothers had spent the whole day investigating without any leads. They were driving by your street when they heard your cries and Bigby howls. They saw the blood on the front door of your apartment and broke in and found you unconscious in the puddle of red liquid next to Grace's corpse.

After Sam's story, you stayed silent for a moment. You didn't know why but you believed him. Deep down, you knew he was telling the truth. You wiped your tears and looked in the rear view mirror again to find out that Dean still had his eyes fixed on you. With a determined voice you broke the silence, "I believe you… But I don't need to go to the hospital. I want you to turn the car around and drive me back."

Dean was taken aback and turned to look at Sam who took a couple of seconds to react.

"Y/N, you bagged your head pretty hard, I think it would better for you to get your head checked right away. Dean and I can -"

" Please… If what you're saying is true, someone else could be in danger right now. Do you really want to waste more time?"

" She's right Sammy," said Dean in a low voice. "It could still be lurking around, it would be too big of a risk to waste more time." As he said the words he stopped the car. Sam didn't have time to protest as Dean changed direction.

" I don't think it's a good idea…" Sam sighed. " You know the police will be there, right? We'll have to be discreet, especially since we have Y/N and her dog in our car."

Dean did not say anything, he just kept driving. You on the other hand were a complete and utter mess. After everything that had happened you still didn't feel like any of this was real. You were ready to wake up at any moment. You thought about werewolves and a million questions started swarming in your head. _Are they actual_ _wolves or humans turning into wolves?_ _How do they become werewolves? Do they need to get bitten by one? Do they… Oh no…. No…_ " Oh my god!" you screamed out loud as you remembered your conversation with Grace and Kyle from a month ago.

Sam and Dean both immediately turned their heads, startled by your screams.

"What? What's going on?" yelled Dean.

Kyle lived right next to the grocery store where the two other victims had been found. It couldn't be a coincidence. It was him. It was Kyle.

"I know who did it… I know who the werewolf is..."


End file.
